Cork solicitor is nominated as a new District Court judge

A Cork-based solicitor is one of eight people nominated by the Government as ordinary judges of the District Court.

The decision was taken at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, and sees the nomination of four women and four men for appointment to the District Court by President Connolly.

Those nominated include seven solicitors: Edward Carroll, Paula Cullinane, Tom MacSharry, Mary McAveety, Darach McCarthy, Catriona Murray, and Olivia Traynor; and one barrister, Andrew Gubbins.

Mr Carroll, who is based in Cork, qualified as a solicitor in 1988, and has been a partner in Noonan Linehan Carroll Coffey Solicitors since 1995.

He is one of three nominees who are UCC alumni. Mr Carroll received a BCL in 1984 and an LLB in 1987, going on to receive an LLM from the University of Northumbria in 2018.

Ms Cullinane, a Dublin-based solicitor received a BCL in UCC in 2000. Ms Traynor, a solicitor based in Galway, received a BCL in UCC in 1998 and an LLB there the following year.

EIGHT 

The eight nominations were necessitated by District Court vacancies caused by the resignation last year of Judge Brian O’Shea, the appointments to the Circuit Court of judges Alec Gabbett, Paula Murphy and Cephas Power, the retirement of Judge Patricia McNamara, and the scheduled retirements of judges Mary Dorgan, Gerard Jones, and Miriam Walsh.

The nominations for appointment to the District Court follow a process conducted by the Judicial Appointments Commission.

The 2023 Judicial Appointments Commission Act, which came into force in January of 2025, established the independent commission to select and recommend people for judicial offices. Only candidates recommended by the commission can be nominated by the Government for appointment by the president.

In a statement, Government said it had taken the necessary steps to formally advise President Connolly of the nominations.